The One Thing...

Remember the Billy Crystal movie, “City Slickers"? 

I love this exchange between Curly (Jack Palance) and Mitch (Billy Crystal):

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [holds up one finger]
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean ****.  
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: [smiles] That's what * you* have to find out.

Some of the best and brightest in our industry weigh in with their ONE THING below.

Tom Bender
Greater Media Interactive, Sr. Vice President/General Manager
Our interactive future as an industry hinges on how we view ourselves.  If we’re “radio” focused, we will continue to worry about Arbitron demo shares and Miller Kaplan shares.  If we are “communication” based, we’ll redefine our product brands and our relationships with our local audiences, before they are lured away by new interactive media suppliers.

Mary Beth Garber
SCBA, President
The internet will not kill radio, it will make radio. The internet -- and mobile -- give us brand extension possibilities we've never had.  Our databases, our web sites, our social networks, our texting and emailing components are all continuations of the emotional connection our stations have established with our listeners.  And we can sell them.

Jennifer Lane
President - Katz Net Radio Sales
Distribution: Radio's audience is growing, not shrinking, but it's distributed over various technologies—from am/fm, streaming audio and HD to mobile and downloadable formats. Recognizing that radio listening is now distributed over all these technologies and developing innovative strategies to monetize each unique platform is the key to creating value for advertisers and building new revenue streams for broadcasters in the new digital radio space.

Larry Rosin
Edison Media Research, President
“For its entire history, Radio has functioned with a scarcity model – in any given place one could only hear a limited number of stations.  Radio was strong, in part, because they weren’t making any more radio stations. 
Well now they are.  Hundreds more, thousands more, essentially an Infinite number.  When one can listen on their 3G phone or via WiMax to any live stream in the world, why will they choose yours?  Are you truly local?  Are you providing unique content that will compel people to listen to your station and not any other?  Do you have a relationship to your consumer that will keep him or her loyal to you?  Because if not, if you are simply, for instance, a mix of music, there will be little reason to choose your station.  Thus, it is, as it really always has been, about unique, compelling content, and about the relationship you have with your consumer.”

Jerry Parker
Presslaff Interactive Revenue, Vice President/Operations
The one thing to do is “blur the lines”. Soften the edges between your On Air, Promotions, and Digital Spaces. There are plenty of reasons to talk about your digital offerings on air, or talk about your talent or other promotions in the digital space. Use these opportunities to urge your listeners to visit or participate in your station’s events or offerings. Doing so will give your listeners more reasons to keep their hands off the dial, and their focus on your station. It will also give your advertisers more reason to come to the table more often.

Fred Jacobs
Jacobs Media
When we (Jacob’s Media) started our W.T.D.A. campaign - "What's the digital application?" - the idea was to remind broadcasters to think beyond the world of transmitters, towers, programming, and sales, and to start considering all things digital. 
Perhaps the better question is W.T.D.S. -  "What's the digital strategy?"  Many companies are doing selective interactive things, but an overriding strategy is often missing, and rarely being communicated to managers at the local level. 

Ivan Braiker
HipCricket, CEO
 “Right now the most important initiative for broadcast stations is building out their databases.  By harnessing the power of database management, stations can better understand their listener’s behaviors, establish stronger ties of engagement and now have the ability to interact with them on demand. Mobile marketing is the most personal way to interact with your audience. This evolution of digital marketing is a great way to build databases and provide stations with the means to drive engagement with their listeners.

Brian Benedik
Katz 360, President
Katz 360 The radio industry has a wonderful opportunity to reinvent audio for both consumers and advertising customers...On Air, Internet Radio with a diverse group of digital streams, Time shifted/On Demand audio, HD radio upgrades etc...Standardized, real time, server based measurement is a necessity along with seamless ad insertion, tracking and analytics for our customers. It could revolutionize the audio space, give consumers a great listening experience and allow advertisers to spend more money in our medium.

Kelly Wallace
Greater Media Marketing/Philadelphia, Director of Business Development
Interactive is a necessary and relevant component of integrated marketing campaigns, and can further define success for clients with measurable results.  Our job as marketing specialists is to educate clients and help them make interactive an exciting and impactful tool for achieving their goals.

Reed Bunzel
 Expect media to be platform-agnostic. Consumers will not care about, much less differentiate between, where their content is coming from. They won’t care if it’s coming from a radio or TV station. They won’t care whether it’s beamed to earth by a satellite. They won’t care whether it’s part of “Web 10.0” or if it has anything to do with what used to be called the Internet.

Brad Holtz
WTTS, Program Director
The old adage of "thinking like a listener" has never been more important.  More messages, more information and more clutter inundate our listeners every day.  We must actively think like listeners/users so our content cuts through, is genuinely unique and entertaining, and holds a meaningful and relevant place in their increasingly busy lives.

Jim Taszarek
TazMedia, Inc.
How to judge a web site? One answer; “Does it make money?” That’s it. It obviously can’t make money unless it DOES lots of things FOR the Listener/User. We’re Tripping Over Dollars to get to Dimes. So . . . “Just Say No to CPM.” Radio’s original NTR model pays off  better here than ever before. Don’t jump on salespeople because “they don’t get it.” That’s because management doesn’t get it either. Don’t send them out to “Sell Some Web.” Nobody gets the benefit of “Some Web.” Therefore, don’t look for silver-bullet formulas. The web is about constant evolution. Just keep experimenting. It’s time to start planning for the Portal site, the new Live & Local. It’s more fun and far more productive selling than we’ve done in years.

Tom Lisack
93XRT - Chicago's Finest Rock, Director of New Media & Marketing
The airwaves of a radio station are a gateway into a much larger space online where you can grow your brand and connect even further with your audience through your digital content. All it takes is the time, creativity, and patience to analyze your strengths as a brand and bring them to life online for your audience. Continue to put the focus and effort into that area, and you will continue to remain relevant while growing your digital revenue and traffic.

Mark Ramsey
Mercury Research, President
Understand what business you're in.  Because it's not the one you grew up in.

Rodney Whitaker
CBS Radio and Interactive/Portland, Digital Sales Manager
Keep your eyes on the younger generations and how they use the Digital world. They embrace technology in ways you and I never will. By their actions, they will show you the ‘next big thing’. Beware, though because next week there will be another ‘next big thing’”.

Scott Rodgers
Journal Interactive, the online division of Journal Communications; Director, Product Development
The word "engagement" has been overused for a reason -- it is important.  Technology has changed how people communicate, learn, make decisions, spend money, performs tasks, and spend their leisure time. Yet it is not about the technology, it is about what you do with it.  Engage your audiences, and enable your advertisers to do the same.

Curly had it right.   It’s all about the ONE THING…that works for your market, your listeners and your advertisers.  The unifying theme is the passion with which your ONE THING is implemented.

What  David Goodman, President of  Marketing/CBS Radio calls: A maniacal commitment to execution.